Cristiano Ronaldo’s power as an influencer is undeniable. It was enough that the soccer star removed a couple of bottles of Coca-Cola from the room where he would give a press conference, prior to the Eurocopa match between Hungary and Portugal, to make the soft drink shake… But not for long.
According to Bloomberg, Coca-Cola shares fell roughly in line with the S&P 500 index after Ronaldo’s press conference, and were down in New York on Wednesday. However, its impact will be brief.
“It did have a consequence and it was the fall in the value of the share, but the brand will undoubtedly recover, first because it does anything else and the stock market favors it and, secondly, because the footballer’s action will not make the product stops being sold: consumers are not going to stop drinking Coca-Cola because Cristiano said so ”, says Hussein Forzán, founder and creative director of the sports marketing agency Publi Marketing.
In any case, adds the expert who has worked with athletes such as Jorge Campos, Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez, Ricardo ‘El Finito’ López and Hugo Sánchez, the soft drink was even favored because “the human being with the most fans on social networks ruled a mention ”. A celebrity with more than 299 million followers on Instagram, 148 million on Facebook, and 92.2 million Twitter advertised Coca-Cola for free.
A day later, the situation was repeated but with a Heineken beer. It was the French player Paul Pogba who removed a bottle from the table where he would give a press conference that he gave after being chosen the best player of the game of France against Germany, the award he received is sponsored by the brewery.
It is speculated that he did it for religious reasons, since being practically Islam he is prohibited from consuming alcoholic beverages. It seems that this action was more understood, as Heineken shares broke away from the snub and rose 1.7%, according to Bloomberg.
“It is good that Cristiano Ronaldo has more followers and that is why nothing happened with the beer, but this is more of a slight, at least from the Portuguese, so the consequences that it may have caused are not going to have a long impact term ”, adds César Enríquez, founding president of the American Marketing Association (AMA) Mexico chapter and expert in sports marketing.
Paul Pogba has 44.8 million followers on Instagram, 22 million on Facebook, and 8.6 million on Twitter.
Italian Manuel Locatelli also set aside the Coca-Cola bottles and placed a bottle of water in front of him before speaking to the press, after playing against Switzerland on Wednesday.
Is it worth the risk?
Sponsoring an athlete has its risks. Although there is a contract in between that includes the responsibilities of the sponsored, brands do not always have the possibility to control everything they do. But is it worth it.
“When it is decided to work with a profile of this magnitude, the brand obtains an important return, and not only speaking of money, but of its presence in the market by being mentioned by this character”, says Leonardo Vargas, leader of the influencer department Band of Insiders agency marketing. “The theme that brands always look for those who share the same values to create connections with the audience.”
Gerardo Sordo, founder and CEO of the agency that connects brands with influencers BrandMe, agrees that it is important for brands to collaborate with celebrities, but it is necessary that they be coherent characters between what they say and do. In the case of Cristiano Ronaldo, social networks were flooded with messages recalling that the footballer had already announced Coca-Cola previously (in 2006), as well as his recent involvement with Kentucky Fried Chicken in the Middle East.
Advertisements with the face of the athlete holding a bucket of chicken in his hands were shared by Internet users, who classified fast food as unhealthy and nutritious, and Ronaldo as incoherent.
Given this, the brand in Spain responded to a message: “You wash your mouth before talking about kfc and EL BICHO.”
“I agree 100%, he supposedly makes a healthy gesture and came out advertising KFC a few months ago. This lack of consistency as an influencer is what makes brands have reservations when working with them. If he had maintained consistency from the beginning of his career, it would be something else… Although we cannot deny that he is clearly capable of moving brands, ”says Rodrigo Cobos, director of Talaria Marketing, specialized in sports.
César Enríquez disagrees, the sports marketing expert says that the behavior of athletes is unacceptable. “Brands should stop sponsoring these events, there is a contract that must be fulfilled and a tantrum of this magnitude only affects business relationships, who is in the best interest of Coca-Cola getting out? This is what they should think before acting (…) There must be sanctions ”.
The fines should be borne by the Union of European Football Federations (UEFA), which is the one that receives payment from the brands, although the teams are responsible for maintaining the sponsor’s obligations and, therefore, hence, ensuring that players stay on the sidelines.
“UEFA has reminded the participating teams that collaborations are essential for the realization of the tournament and to ensure the development of football throughout Europe, including for young people and women,” the organization argued on Thursday.
Martin Kallen, director of Euro 2020, said that the main problem has been the action of Cristiano Ronaldo, but that he understood the players who did such things for religious reasons. However, he mentioned that UEFA has communicated with the teams regarding the issue, as “the income of the sponsors is important for the tournament and for European football.”
“We have a regulation signed by the participating federations. We have reminded them of their obligations, but of course this (the fines) is always a possibility,” said Martin Kallen.
The work of brands
The problem with what happened with soccer players and the Coca-Cola and Heineken brands is that it becomes a recurring attitude among the athletes of the tournament. In this sense, in addition to the fact that the experts agree that there should be penalties for brands a precedent, Sordo recommends that brands be more careful with the type of products they place depending on the characteristics of the events.
“Knowing the high performance values of athletes, clearly Coca-Cola could have put Ciel water or the Powerade drink, which is popular in the guild, something that makes sense with the characters involved,” clarifies the CEO of BrandMe
César Enríquez adds that this is also the work of the brands, it is about making them more meticulous, since risking to collaborate with a celebrity implies taking actions that do not affect the work of any of those involved.
From UEFA they assured that all players have the right to their drink preferences, that is why at all press conferences they are offered water and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar.
“We fully respect everyone’s decision when it comes to their drink of choice,” a Heineken spokesperson told Bloomberg.
